It’s a question occupying the minds of Isabel Ward, a retiree who has yet to receive her Metropass; Peter Stiegler, an accountant in need of tax documents to help his clients; and Russell Bennett, a self-employed father anxiously awaiting cheques to pay the rent and support his family.

They are three people who live or work in three different Toronto neighbourhoods — all complaining that they haven’t seen a Canada Post mail carrier in more than two weeks. But they are far from being the only residents who have gone with empty mailboxes since just before Christmas.

After the Toronto Star published a story Tuesday about Canada Post failing to replace a vacationing carrier in Thornhill, leaving about 200 townhomes without service over the holidays, readers from across the GTA shared their own tales of no mail.

They live in Oakville, North York, Leslieville, Scarborough and the Beach. Many have tried contacting Canada Post, only to be told their matter will be investigated in due time and assured that their letters will arrive soon. It’s unclear how many residents are affected.

Few have been given a clear answer as to why the mail suddenly stopped. None was given advance warning.

Canada Post mainly blamed the bad weather. Spokeswoman Anick Losier said the corporation’s pool of relief employees, who fill in for temporarily absent permanent staff, was limited by the ice storm.

“Our employees are also residents of the area and some had to take unplanned time off to deal with personal issues related to the (ice-storm power) outage, for example,” she said. “This also affected our ability to call in employees from our relief pool as much as we would have liked.”

She said the delivery of parcels and packages requiring signatures almost never stopped, while delivery of letters to affected routes was ongoing Tuesday. Losier added that even with challenges, “the vast majority of GTA residents and businesses received their mail.”

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has accused Canada Post of overworking permanent carriers by expanding routes, leading to sudden absences, and of not having enough temporary workers on standby.

“We’re seeing people booking off on stress at levels like we’ve never seen before,” said Gerry Deveau, national director for Ontario.

The lack of information provided to customers by Canada Post over the delivery delays is “inexcusable,” said Toronto MP Olivia Chow, the NDP’s critic for transport and Canada Post.

“I just find they are not customer-driven,” she said. “It’s poor communication. It’s bad customer service. If you knew that you can’t replace the worker, then you notify ahead of time.”

When asked why no advance notice was given to affected customers, Losier replied in an email: “Every day we make best efforts to deliver the mail and try and find the best solutions to the challenges.”

Residents’ complaints highlight the reality that there are still many people who depend on snail mail, even as the Crown corporation prepares to phase out door-to-door delivery in older urban areas and increase the price of its stamps.

Bennett, who lives with his wife and 2-year-old son in the Beach, has been living “a little hand to mouth” these past two weeks because his cheques never arrived. He was forced to access his line of credit to pay the rent. A Christmas card sent by his father-in-law with a cheque for his son’s Registered Education Savings Plan also didn’t show up.

“When your bills go up over the holidays because you’re buying gifts and you’re stuck waiting for the money to come in, and it doesn’t, it creates a lot of tension at home,” he said.

Ward, who cannot remember going more than two days without mail during her more than 30 years in the East Danforth area, said the situation was “very frustrating. They don’t seem to understand that this is a big issue for people.

“I’ve been very supportive of Canada Post over the years. . . I was feeling sympathy for Canada Post, but I’m not feeling sympathy any more.”